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11 Mar 2003 : Column 148W—continued
Plastic Bags
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what
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assessment has been made of the potential role of degradable plastic bags in improving environmental protection; [99266]
- (2) what steps her Department is taking to encourage industry to move towards the use of degradable plastic bags. [99245]
Mr. Meacher: Government have not yet carried out an assessment of the potential role of biodegradable plastics bags in improving environmental protection. The Environment Agency has however been asked to include a project on impacts of replacing supermarket plastic bags with biodegradable alternatives in its 2003–04 research programme.
The Government support the development of biodegradable plastics from non-fossil fuel sources. The Government Industry Forum on Non-Food Uses of Crops was set up in March 2001 to provide strategic advice to Government and industry on the development of non-food uses of crops. The Forum has examined the UK potential to produce compostable packaging materials from mainstream agricultural crops and has concluded that there is a clear opportunity for both UK agriculture and industry to develop these materials. The Forum is encouraging industry to respond to this opportunity and develop products to supply an expanding market.
Plastics Recycling
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the (a) costs and (b) benefits of plastics recycling; what plans she has to encourage plastics recycling; and if she will make a statement. [101343]
Mr. Meacher: No assessments have been made of the costs or benefit of plastics recycling.
Our highest priority is to increase recycling and composting rates for biodegradable waste (i) to meet the Landfill Directive targets and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions generated when biodegradable waste is landfilled, (ii) because biodegradable waste comprises 53 per cent. by weight of the waste fraction and (iii) because at present, the economics of plastics recycling are much more difficult.
We do, however, take plastics recycling seriously, and as local authorities have to meet increasingly demanding recycling targets, they will have to start tackling the more difficult waste streams, including plastics.
Under the 1997 Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 (as amended), obligated businesses which handle plastic must recover or recycle a designated amount of plastic each year. This has led to a substantial amount of plastic packaging waste being recycled and the quantity is expected to increase further, partly as a result of revisions to the European directive on packaging waste, which are currently being negotiated.
The amount of plastic packaging waste being recovered and recycled has increased significantly in recent years from 125,539 tonnes in 1998 to 269,962 tonnes in 2001. The revised directive is expected to set challenging targets which will require the provision of new infrastructure. Revenue from the Packaging Waste
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Recycling Notes (provided for under the UK packaging and waste regulations), which amounted to £70 million in 2001, can be used as a mechanism for directing money towards investment in the collection and recovery infrastructure and the development of end use markets for recyclate.
Radioactive Waste
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her answer of 11 February 2003, Official Report, column 664W, on nuclear fuel reprocessing, what the storage plans are for the various components of (a) the 28,000 cubic metres low level waste, (b) the 14,000 cubic metres intermediate level waste and (c) the 480 cubic metres high level waste. [102504]
Mr. Meacher: The low level waste will be disposed of at the Drigg facility near Sellafield. The remaining waste will be stored on the Sellafield site.
Secondments
Mr. Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many of her Department's officials have been seconded to (a) Greenpeace and (b) other NGOs since 1 January 2002; and on what areas of policy seconded individuals have worked. [101702]
Alun Michael: None to Greenpeace and one placement to an NGO. This secondment to the Rural Stress Information Network was in place before 1 January 2002 and has been very productive.
Mr. Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) British Energy, (b) BNFL, (c) Greenpeace, (d) Friends of the Earth and (e) other (i) companies and (ii) NGOs staff have been seconded to her Department since 1 January 2002; and on what areas of policy seconded individuals have worked. [101703]
Alun Michael: No staff have been seconded to the organisations shown at (a) to (d) in the question. Under item (e) one person has been seconded from a company, which does not fall within the above list, and 13 staff have been seconded from NGOs. These staff have been seconded to the Departments Science, Environment, Land Use and Rural Affairs, Directorates and the Rural Delivery Service.
Smoking
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what policy her Department has adopted on smoking in the workplace. [100937]
Alun Michael: Smoking is not permitted anywhere on Defra premises other than in designated smoking room that are suitably equipped and ventilated. On premises where this is not feasible a total ban on smoking has been introduced.
The Policy was revised in January 2003 to place further emphasis on fire risk hazards and to discourage smoking in official vehicles.
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Information and a video on loan are available to staff who wish to give up smoking.
Sustainable Development
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans her Department has to conduct research on the relationship between production and consumption with reference to the delivery of sustainable development. [101672]
Mr. Meacher: The agenda for sustainable consumption and production (SCP) agreed at WSSD last year is a very ambitious one, in terms of the scope of the issues to be addressed, the range of actors involved, and the range and inter-dependence of the measures that could be considered. The Government have been actively building up the knowledge base to support this agenda: in particular, substantial research and analysis has been carried out over the last three years as inputs to the Cabinet Office Strategy Unit reports on resource productivity ("Making More With Less") and waste ("Waste Not, Want Not") and the Energy White Paper published last month. The Government now plan to draw some of the main threads together in a strategy document on Sustainable Consumption and Production, to be published in the summer. My Department is co-ordinating this work, which will itself feed into the review of the UK Sustainable Development Strategy and its associated sustainable development indicators, to be completed in 2005.
We will be considering what further research the Government may need to commission as part of this evolving work on a longer-term strategy. In addition, organisations outside central Government are also looking at issues connected with the SCP agenda and we shall be making full use of such material where we can.
Water Services
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of households pay for water supplies based on the 1973 rateable value of the property, broken down by supplier area. [101692]
Mr. Morley: The following is the information for households in England.
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Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much water was estimated to be lost from water pipes broken down by (a) company supply pipes and (b) piping between the water company connection point and the householder's tap in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2002. [101681]
Mr. Morley: Water company leakage data is published annually by the Director General of Water Services in the 'Security of supply, leakage and the efficient use of water' reports, copies of which are available in the Library of the House. The reported leakage figures for companies' pipes and customers' supply pipes for 1996–97 and 2001–02 (in litres/property/day) were as follows:
| Company pipes | Customer supply pipes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 2002 | 1997 | 2002 | |||
| Water and sewerage companies | ||||||
| Anglian | 79.4 | 82.1 | 75.8 | 36.5 | ||
| Dwr Cymru | 216.4 | 162.0 | 67.8 | 24.8 | ||
| Northumbrian North | 120.3 | 99.8 | 53.2 | 42.2 | ||
| Northumbrian South | 72.6 | 57.1 | 43.0 | 39.5 | ||
| Severn Trent | 103.1 | 69.3 | 48.7 | 35.4 | ||
| South West | 141.7 | 90.8 | 45.9 | 24.9 | ||
| Southern | 79.6 | 68.8 | 36.8 | 23.1 | ||
| Thames | 231.6 | 186.4 | 88.9 | 63.7 | ||
| United Utilities | 174.8 | 117.0 | 43.5 | 28.6 | ||
| Wessex | 204.4 | 111.8 | 50.2 | 37.3 | ||
| Yorkshire | 164.0 | 109.5 | 49.9 | 31.9 | ||
| Water only companies | ||||||
| Bournemouth and W. Hants | 110.4 | 83.9 | 46.8 | 36.3 | ||
| Bristol | 98.3 | 89.9 | 41.6 | 23.1 | ||
| Cambridge | 102.5 | 89.9 | 36.7 | 31.1 | ||
| Dee Valley | 75.2 | 61.3 | 41.2 | 36.8 | ||
| Folkestone and Dover | 115.0 | 83.2 | 49.6 | 33.7 | ||
| Mid Kent | 124.8 | 81.4 | 41.5 | 38.4 | ||
| Portsmouth | 59.1 | 74.0 | 49.0 | 29.3 | ||
| South East | 119.4 | 92.8 | 56.6 | 34.7 | ||
| South Staffordshire | 122.7 | 88.8 | 47.5 | 42.4 | ||
| Sutton and East Surrey | 60.8 | 54.9 | 42.8 | 36.1 | ||
| Tendring Hundred | 60.5 | 63.9 | 33.0 | 10.2 | ||
| Three Valleys | 117.1 | 82.5 | 55.8 | 46.4 | ||
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to ensure that leakage levels in piping between the water company connection point and the householder's tap are reduced. [101682]
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Mr. Morley: Following the Water Summit in 1997, Ofwat has set water companies annual leakage targets. This mechanism has achieved a significant reduction in leakage, both on the distribution network and customers' supply pipes. The Government also asked water companies to make a further commitment to reduce leakage in customers' supply pipes. As a result, all companies offer some degree of free or subsidised repair and replacement for domestic customers' supply pipes. This activity is undertaken as part of water companies' statutory duty to promote the efficient use of water by their customers. Ofwat has a responsibility to enforce this duty, and annually reviews water companies' policies and activities in this area.
Details regarding water company activity on water efficiency, the number of supply pipes replaced and repaired annually, and the supply pipe policies can be found in the Ofwat report 'Security of supply, leakage and the efficient use of water 2001–02', a copy of which is in the Library of the House.
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent studies (a) have been conducted and (b) are planned to establish the extent of leaking pipes in (i) the public water supply and (ii) domestic and business properties. [101683]
Mr. Morley: Since the Water Summit in 1997, Ofwat has set water companies annual leakage reduction targets, which cover the distribution network and customers' supply pipes. Companies submit details each year on progress with their leakage control activities, including information on supply pipe leakage. Water company leakage data is published annually by the Director General of Water Services in the 'Security of supply, leakage and the efficient use of water' reports, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which water companies (a) have and (b) have not accepted responsibility for a free leak repair service for domestic supply pipes. [101685]
Mr. Morley: All water companies offer some degree of free repair for domestic customers' supply pipes. The exact nature of the repair policy and any restrictions to that policy are dependent on the water company and its operating conditions, although many companies also offer free or subsidised supply pipe replacement. Further details of the supply pipe policy for each water company are provided in Appendix 5 of the Ofwat report 'Security of supply, leakage and the efficient use of water 2001–02', a copy of which is in the Library of the House.
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